The laundry pod challenge is a dangerous new fad among teens who are filming themselves eating laundry detergent pods and then uploading the videos online, sparking concern among parents and doctors nationwide, CBS Los Angeles noted.

Videos and memes of the challenge, dubbed the "Tide Pod Challenge," have swept social media and, while teens are approaching the trend as a light-hearted joke, health experts have warned that the implications of ingesting laundry detergent could be severe.

Ann Marie Buerkle, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, cautioned that ingesting the liquid could carry deadly risks, noting that the challenge had "gone too far," according to CBS News.

One challenger, 19-year-old Marc Pagan, told CBS News he knew better but took on the challenge despite this.

"A lot of people were just saying how stupid I was or how – why would I be willing to do that," he said. "No one should be putting anything like that in their mouths, you know?"

The laundry detergent pod manufacturer, Tide, has since released a statement warning that its laundry packs were "highly concentrated detergent meant to clean clothes," that "should not be played with, whatever the circumstance is, even if meant as a joke," USA Today noted.

The laundry pod challenge is a dangerous new fad among teens who are filming themselves eating laundry detergent pods and then uploading the videos online, sparking concern among parents and doctors nationwide.